Best PlacesDayton Lakes, TX Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Dayton Lakes, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Dayton Lakes ranks 42,412th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on tree cover by a wide margin, and air quality ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Dayton Lakes
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
Dayton Lakes' strengths and weaknesses
Where Dayton Lakes ranks high
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 92% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 86% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 82% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 81% of towns
Where Dayton Lakes ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 2% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 3% of towns
- Short commute41.4 minutes each way, better than only 4% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 5% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 7% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Dayton Lakes
A household needs to earn about $45,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Dayton Lakes home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $92,221, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses Dayton Lakes' effective rate of 1.18%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 4 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Dayton Lakes
Dayton Lakes runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Dayton Lakes.
Who works in Dayton Lakes, and how
Work in Dayton Lakes centers on transportation & warehousing and professional & technical. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 91%
- Work from home 5%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Dayton Lakes
The coast is about 48 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Dayton Lakes, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Dayton Lakes, month by month
Dayton Lakes sees roughly 111 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 65, with lows near 45. The comfortable stretch runs February through April and October through December.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 65° | 53° | 45° |
| April | 80° | 69° | 61° |
| July | 93° | 83° | 76° |
| October | 84° | 71° | 61° |
Flying in and out of Dayton Lakes
George Bush Intcntl/Houston sits about 34 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 23.3 million passengers in 2025, with 214 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Dayton Lakes
Schools across Dayton Lakes average a B−, better than 60% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Hardin ElB− · 41% proficient
- Richter ElC · 32% proficient
- Kimmie M Brown ElD · 20% proficient
Top middle schools
- Hardin J HC+ · 36% proficient
Top high schools
- Hardin H SB+ · 58% proficient
- Dayton H SB · 48% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Dayton Lakes school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Dayton Lakes measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare Dayton Lakes against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Dayton Lakes
Is Dayton Lakes a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Dayton Lakes ranks 42,412th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on tree cover, low taxes, and big-city access, and lowest on air quality and internet speeds. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Dayton Lakes expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $163,554. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $92,221 median income, cost of living beats 82% of towns.
Is Dayton Lakes safe?
Dayton Lakes is safer than 24% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $481 per resident a year.
Compare Dayton Lakes with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Dayton Lakes. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Dayton Lakes represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
Dayton Lakes detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Dayton Lakes: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Dayton Lakes: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Dayton Lakes: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Dayton Lakes: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Dayton Lakes detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.